Place: Khandala, Maharashtra, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Pune - Lonavala - Khandala - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: July 25, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Khandala
My Experience:
1. Driving on the Pune - Mumbai old Highway was fun. It was raining all the time. Wet Driving is fun :).
2. Awsome view of the mountains on both sides of the road. Waterstreams everywhere.
3. Lonavala Chikki (Kadalai Mittai) was bad and good. Corona was costly and traffic sucks in Lonavala main road.
4. Police catched me and I had no documents except my license. It was atirek's bike. Spot fine 100 bucks but no bill. :(
5. We went to Khandala Railway station and started our small trek to Duke Nose. Walking through the railway tunnels was an awsome experience.
6. As usual Ganesh Majji screwed us. Lost the path and ended up reaching a Thermal power station :). Came back to pune in the evening.
Thought of Day: A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. - Henri B. Stendhal
Place: HarishchandraGad, Maharashtra, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Indica) [240 Kms] (Pune - Narayangaon - Junnar - HarishchandraGad - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: July 11-12, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Harishchandragad
My Experience:
1. Me and my colleagues started from office around 8.00 AM from pune. We went through the Pune-Nasik highway and it was raining all the time during the drive. It was lush greenery all the way and the ghat road was simply awsome.
2. We reached khireshwar which is a village on the foothills of HarishchandraGad around 12.00 PM after having few breaks. Parked all our bikes in a house and we ate some hot pohas which was fantastic.
3. Started trekking around 12.30 PM and we went inside the forest. The trek totally contains three phases. The first phase was little bit difficult as there were lot of rocks and stones on the way. But the view of the adjacent mountains was awsome as we could see lot of falls and land slides. Since it was raining heavily, the path that we went through had lot of water streams.
4. The second phase was too scary as we have to climb and crawl through rocks. But we did it with atmost care and it was fun too. In some places while climbing when I looked down, there were some butterfly effect in my stomach.
5. Then the last phase was walking, walking and simply walking all the way to other mountains. During that we crossed some dense forests and i was little bit scary about leeches, but luckily there were none. On the way we could able to see some crabs too.
6. Finally we reached the top around 4.00 PM and it was full of mist. We went to the Shiva temple and the beauty is, the whole temple is covered by water streams. Then we went to a cave where we finally decided to stay for that night. The cave had a huge Ganesh sculpture and it was glowing in the night due to fluorescence paint.
7. Adjacent to the cave there was a water falls and we had good fun taking bath. And there were some villagers who prepare Tea and Rice/Roti/Dhall. The food was awsome and they charged very little which made me think a lot about the city life.
8. Next morning we started to trek down around 7.00 AM. On the way, we went to the Kedareshwar cave in which there is a big Shivlinga. And I heard that during Shiv Rathri, there will be a huge function. Finally reached the foothills back around 10.30 AM.
Thought of Day: Backpacking is the art of knowing what not to take. - Sheridan Anderson
Place: Nagerhole, Thadiyandamol, Coorg - Karnataka
Mode: Car Trip (Indica) [650 Kms] (Bangalore - Nagerhole - Thadiyandamol - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: June 27-28, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Nagarhole
Thadiyandamol
My Experience:
1. Me and my friends started around 10.00 AM from bangalore. Banaglore - Mysore highway is very scary. You have to be extra careful while driving in the road. We had breakfast at Kamat hotel and it was awsome.
2. We reached Gonikoppal in coorg around 2.00 PM. We used the Srirangapatna - KRS - Madikeri highway to reach gonikoppal. The weather was awsome and it was drizzling.
3. From Gonikoppal we started to Nagerhole national park and we reached there around 3.30 PM. There is a forest guard at the entrance of the park and he does nothing. Above all he was recommending people for some hotels to stay. The sad part was, we saw some people just drinking and littering beer cans inside the park. If the guard could have inspected the vans, they could have been stopped at the entrance only.
4. We saw hell lots of deers. Then we took a bus ride inside the forest. We could able to see only some deers and sambars. I should say the bus ride was a disappointment.
5. Then we stayed overnight at virajpet next to gonikoppal ie on the way to madikeri. Next morning, on the way to chelavara falls we had a nice breakfast in a small hotel. We saw a big black cobra crossing the road. Finally reached chelavara falls and it was awsome.
6. After nice bath in the falls we started to Thadiyandamol and reached the foothills around 11.00 AM. We went to Nalknaad palace and the guard explained about the architecture. It was awsome. But the sad thing is people have screwed up that place as much as possible.
7. We started trekking to Thadiyandamol around 12.00 PM. Everywhere it was green and the climate was f***ing awsome. We were so hungry and some fellow trekkers gave us some food. Around 2.00 PM we reached halfway and it started raining. The rain became heavier and the paths we went through looked like water streams. So we decided to go back and reached the foothills. Then found that we got bitten by leeches. It was scary and the blood was not at all clotting.
8. Finally reached bangalore around 10.00 PM. It was a fun filled experience.
Thought of Day: Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Place: Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra
Mode: Bike Trip [300 Kms] (Pune - Panchgani - Mahabaleshwar - Panchgani - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: June 4-5, 2009
You can read more about the place here: Mahabaleshwar
My Experience:
1. Me and my colleagues started around 9.00 PM from office and reached the Pune-Bangalore highway at 10.00 PM. We had four bikes and all are pumped with petrol to really cruise. There are lot of dhabas on the highway and we had a nice non-veg dinner at a dhaba. Awsome food. :)
2. Just 20 kms on the highways, you will find a 1.5 Kms tunnel which was awsome to watch. I had seen these kind of tunnels on the Kulu Highway in Himachal.
3. On the way to Panchgani, we stopped at a place and did a small night trek. It was so slippery, and we decided to end it halfway. From that hill, we could able to see a fort which was amazing at the moonlight.
4. Reached Mahabaleshwar around 2.00 PM and there were fog everywhere. Stayed overnight there and reached tapola in the morning which is around 25 Kms from there. The way to tapola was awsome as you could enjoy the beauty of western ghats. In tapola, we did some boating on the Koyna River.
5. Started back to pune around 5.00 PM. When we hit the highway, it was raining. Wet driving was dangerous and it was more fun too. Finally reached home around 8.30 PM with some pain in the back. :(
Thought of Day: Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. - Albert Einstein
Place: Purandar fort, Maharashtra
Mode: Cycle Trip [120 Kms] (Pune - Saswad - Purandar - Saswad - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: May 30, 2009
You can read more about the place here: Purandar
My Experience:
1. Me and my office colleagues started to Purandar from Pune around 4.00 AM. We reached Saswad around 9.00 AM. Riding the cycle in the 4KM ghat was a horrible experience. It was almost impossible for me since my stamina sucks.
2. Reached Purandar village around 12.00 PM. It was hot like hell. Even then I made my mind to take the trek and managed to reach the top around 1.00 PM.
3. Started back to Pune around 2.00 PM and reached back around 7.00 PM. But it was tiresome to ride around 120 Kms in a day. Tried some glucose, electrol nothing worked. Other Avid cyclists were encouraging me a lot and that kept me pushing and able to finish the trip as well as trek.
Thought of Day: Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. - Albert Einstein
